by Gail Metcalf
Being able to memorize a list is a good thing, but what happens when you need to memorize more than one, or groups of items?

For example, suppose you want to remember the states of the U.S. that are commonly referred to as “New England states,” comprised of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

You could simply use the Peg System to remember each list individually, coming up with a simple sentence to assign each word, however, there is another technique that many recommend for these types of lists.

THE ROMAN ROOM TECHNIQUE

Imagine a room in your house that you know well, be it your living room, kitchen, bedroom, or office. Imagine all the different objects in that room — furniture, decorations, linens, appliances, lamps and other lighting, and so on.

When using the Roman Room technique, you associate an object, person, or word with something in each of your rooms so that when you need to recall that word you simply remember its association.

For example, you’ll use your living room for the New England states. What is the main piece of furniture you sit on? That is now associated with Maine. What is the newest item in the living room (you don’t need to be technically accurate, just choose something newer than most). This will be associated with New Hampshire.

Now imagine the baseboards running along the floor of this room. You want to keep them sealed so that no vermin will get in, so the baseboards are now associated with Vermont.

What is the largest item in the living room? The television or TV cabinet? Whatever has the largest mass will be associated with Massachusetts.

Do you have a small table or other object that sits by itself in the room? Picture this small item as an island, and it will be associated with Rhode Island.

The hallway that leads to the next room connects the two together, so it will represent Connecticut.

And there you have it. Now go back and think about the items in your living room. You’re picturing your favorite chair … why? It’s your main place to sit. The hallway represents what? The baseboards are sealed because … ?

By using a room that you know very well and doing this simple association technique, you can quickly and easily remember these groups of information.

HOW TO PRACTICE

We can practice this technique by using Ivy League colleges, namely, Brown, Columbia, Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton.

Choose another room in your house that you know very well. How about the kitchen?

The easiest college to remember might be Brown. What in your kitchen is brown? How about coffee? The coffeemaker now represents Brown.

Columbia might be a big harder. But do you have blinds on your kitchen window, or a door to another room? Are the blinds or the doorjamb in a straight line — like a column? Anything in your kitchen that goes up and down like a column will represent Columbia.

Look at your sink’s faucet. If the water came out too hot and burned you, wouldn’t you yell? So the hot water faucet represents Yale.

Cornell may be a bit easier as well. Do you have corn cob holders? Or a can of corn in the cupboard?

How about Dartmouth? There are probably a lot of round things in your kitchen, such as a dinner plate or large platter. A large round object looks a lot like a dartboard, so that will represent Dartmouth.

Butter kept in the refrigerator is hard to spread, and something that’s hard can represent Harvard.

The pens or pencils you keep by the phone represent University of Pennsylvania.

And as for Princeton, you might think of a chair that’s in your kitchen or nearby, such as a high chair for the baby, or the one you sit in while eating. Your chair is like your throne … fit for a prince.

THEY DON’T NEED TO BE EXACT

By now you’ve probably realized that the Roman Room technique doesn’t use exact words or phrases from the lists you’re trying to remember, and this is a key point.

If you’re trying to use the exact word, you’re probably going to get hung up. After all, who has something in their house with the word “Harvard” on it, unless you went there and bought a sweatshirt?

The point is that you want to remember something that will remind you of the word or item you’re trying to remember. The word hard can bring to mind Harvard; the word yell can remind you of Yale, and so on.

This is also something to remember for virtually all of the memory techniques we’ve discussed so far. That woman in the wedding dress at the bus stop from the last section should remind you of salad dressing, and of course you can substitute anything that works for you. Imagine a man trying to tame a horse (on a ranch) if you’re shopping for Ranch dressing, or imagine the woman at the bus stop was eating pasta — for your Italian dressing.

Of course, this won’t work for when you’re trying to remember numbers, which need to be exact. Getting a phone number “close” isn’t going to help you, so how do you remember numbers, especially when they’re very long?

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